ERNST, MARY ELIZABETH (WILSON) - 1918 - 2013 - Mary Elizabeth (Wilson) Ernst died January 12, 2013 peacefully at Serenacare Special Care Home in Moncton, NB; she was 94. Born in Moncton, Mary was the daughter of Alfred B. and Annie B. (Price) Wilson. She attended King George School, and graduated from Moncton High School in 1937. She attended Nursing School at Saint John General Hospital, receiving her RN in 1939. as World War II began in Europe. She nursed at Moncton Hospital, then volunteered with the Canadian Army as a nurse, but soon returned home to care for her mother, who had suffered a debilitating stroke. It was a labour of love she performed for more than 30 years. In 1964, she married Roy Clayton Ernst of Indian Point, Lunenburg County, NS, who was Atlantic Regional Manager of Air Traffic Control for DOT. It was a deeply devoted partnership in which they shared a love of family visits, sports, good jokes and, later, winters in Florida. Mary loved childhood summer vacations with Aunt Edie and Uncle Will at Canaan Station, horse racing (sulky and thoroughbred), British royalty, baseball (Chicago Cubs and Montreal Expos), hockey (Moncton Hawks and Montreal Canadiens), watching spring training in Florida, and visiting family in Lunenburg. She was a marvelous cook and a voracious reader of biographies and other nonfiction. She had a delightful sense of humor, and loved to have fun. Crazy about cats (whom she usually named after the current Prime Minister), she contributed generously to animal protection charities, and accumulated a large collection of ornamental cats. Mary was a member of the former Wesley Memorial United Church. She is survived by nieces Mary (Cross) MacLeod and husband Rod, Aylmer, ON, Mary (Wilson) Tietjen and husband Dick, Port Townsend, WA, and Helen (Fiddes), widow of Warren Zwicker, Lunenburg; nephews Gordon Cross and wife Alison, Tillsonburg, ON, and Ronald Ernst and partner Susan Boulanger, Lunenburg; brothers-in-law Robert Cross, Tillsonburg, and Frank Ernst, Lunenburg; grand nieces and nephews Lilly Wilson, Montreal, QC, Alexander, Andrew, Thomas and Laura Cross, Tillsonburg, Matthew and Stephen Ernst, Lunenburg, Sandy Yuill, Lower Truro, NS, Jamie Yuiil, Glencove, NY, Susan Henderson, Old Barnes, NS, and Gerry Zwicker, Bible Hill, NS; cousins John Lutz and wife Cynthia Black, Cocagne, NB, who devotedly cared for Mary during the 6 years after Roy's death, Brian Forbes and wife Leslie, Moncton, Elizabeth Cregan, Halifax, NS, and other loving cousins and their children with whom she kept in touch over the years. A special thanks to the nursing and attendant staff at Peoples Park Tower and Camden Court; and staff at SERENACARE Special Care Home for the compassionate care provided Mary. Mary was predeceased by her husband, Roy, in 2006; sisters Barbara Cross, Lillian Saunders and Louise McKay; brother Vernon Wilson and wife Mildred; nephews David Cross, John Wilson, and Warren Zwicker; and special cousins Ruth DeWare and Florence Cregan.
Mary will be interred next to Roy at Fairhaven Memorial Gardens, Moncton. A gathering celebrating her life will be held at a later date. Memorials in Mary's name may be made to the Greater Moncton SPCA, the Salvation Army or the CNIB. Funeral arrangements entrusted to Fair Haven Funeral Home, 1177 Salisbury Road, Moncton (506) 852-3530.